Poll battle heats up with rally overdrive in Gujarat
Campaigning for the assembly elections in Gujarat kicked into high gear on Monday with top leaders descending on the battleground regions of Saurashtra and south Gujarat that go to the polls in the first phase on December 1.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke at three rallies in Surendranagar, Navsari and Jambusar as part of his campaign blitz in the final weeks of the election campaign. Union home minister Amit Shah addressed rallies in Saurashtra’s coastal region of Dwarka and Junagadh. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed his first public meetings in the western state in Rajkot and Surat, taking a break from his ongoing mass contact programme, Bharat Jodo Yatra. And, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal held a rally in Amreli, promising one million jobs and free electricity if his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) comes to power in its maiden electoral foray in the state.
Modi attacked the Congress. “Your (Congress) padyatra is to grab power and nothing else,” he said in Surendranagar. Shah said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ensured peace in the state. Gandhi accused the state government of trying to hide the real culprits behind the death of 141 people in a bridge collapse last month in Morbi town. Kejriwal asked voters to give the AAP a chance and said both major parties had failed the people.
Eighty-nine seats in the Saurashtra and south Gujarat regions, dominated by Patidars and other farming communities, will go to the polls in the first phase on December 1 and are considered the key to grabbing power in the state. The battle is particularly fierce in the 48 constituencies of the Saurashtra region, where the Congress flipped several seats in the 2017 election, riding a wave of discontent among farmers and traders and the agitation for quotas by Patidars. This time, the BJP is looking to take back many of the 28 seats the Congress won five years ago, while the AAP is hoping its promise of better governance delivery will help it win support, especially in the peri-urban and rural seats.
Unlike the 2017 elections, reservation for Patidars is not a poll issue this time. However, inflation and rising debt of farmers are some of the pre-dominant issues of the agrarian region of Saurashtra. Focus will be on the industrial powerhouse town of Surat, which the BJP has traditionally swept but saw a resurgent AAP break through the bipolar polity in last year’s municipal elections. The triangular fight in Gujarat — the first in the state since 1990 — will largely hinge on the AAP’s ability to hive off votes from the BJP and Congress, and Surat will be a bellwether for this phenomenon.
In Surat, slowing down of economy and its impact on small scale textile and diamond industries are some of the issues, other than inflation and unemployment.
The first phase is especially important given that the second round of elections in 93 constituencies on December 5 will be held across the BJP strongholds of central and north Gujarat. Results will be announced on December 8, along with Himachal Pradesh. The BJP, which is looking for its seventh straight assembly election victory, changed its chief minister and virtually the entire state cabinet last year in a bid to curb antiincumbency. The Congress has run a relatively quiet campaign focussed on grassroots workers, and the AAP is looking to make inroads in BJP and Congress vote bases. In his three rallies, Modi kept up his attack on the Congress and accused the Opposition party of repeatedly insulting him in the past.
Reiterating his party’s poll promises of providing one million government jobs to the youth and 300 units of free electricity each month, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said there was a “cyclone of change” headed towards the state.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Saurashtra’s Amreli town, Kejriwal highlighted the work of the government headed by him in Delhi in the field of education.
“We will provide a million government jobs to the youth and till your family members don’t get employed, we will give ₹3,000 as unemployment allowance. Gujarat too will get splendid education, free of charge for your children...,” Kejriwal said.
AAP is contesting on all 182 assembly seats in the state where voting is scheduled to be held in two phases on December 1 and 5.
“The AAP is going among the people, raising public issues... The people are fed up with the constant price rise, I will wipe out that burden,” he said. Reiterating his promise of free power, he said: “After the formation of our government, I will be paying your electricity bills...” Referring to the 27-year BJP rule in the state, he said, “You have given them 27 years, now please just give us 5 years...”BJP spokesperson Yamal Vyas hit back at Kejriwal, saying: “I think that the people of Gujarat are the best judge. In election time, every political party has their own views, but I think that the people of Gujarat are mature enough and we are sure that they will once again vote the BJP to power.”
AAP IS CONTESTING ON ALL 182 ASSEMBLY SEATS IN THE STATE WHERE VOTING WILL BE HELD ON DECEMBER 1, 5